"Fascinating... How much of this material did you say you had?" Celeste asked as she played with the glass. She had quickly picked up on the unique qualities of it and was pushing and pulling different kinds of mana into it.

  "Well... we took less than half of what was there. A majority of what we could take with us was put into the storage ring you gave me for our new bed," I said slightly awkwardly.

  Celeste gave me an amused look before placing the glass back down on the table. "So this was material found near the boss monster of the second floor? You finally found it?"

  I nodded. "It was a rather long and grueling fight, so we're excited to spend some time relaxing."

  "I understand. Maxwell, do you mind writing me a report on what happened during the fight? Helena, you can take the glass to the workshop and explain where it came from. It is reassuring that this material isn't just scattered all over the second floor the way the gems are on the third. A rare but useful material found on the second floor after a fight with a boss is a lot more common of a situation than what you found on the third," Celeste explained.

  Maxwell raised an eyebrow. "You want me to write a report? You don't want us to tell you the story of what happened directly?"

  She shook her head. "Unfortunately, I do not have the time today. I was able to spare this time to meet with you, but I have a few important meetings to attend soon. Even if this glass has some interesting and unique applications, it isn't as dangerous as the third floor just from the scale alone. This is another welcome discovery, of course, but it's not a problem discovery the same way the gems were. Do you have anything else urgent to tell me, or was this the extent?"

  All of us shared a few looks before we shrugged in response.

  Celeste smiled. "Excellent, then take this new material to Aven'ket and Kell'kit so that they can work on it while you write your report. Give the report to one of the guards outside, and they will make sure to give it to Emi or me once we're available."

  Before any of us could reply, Callisto pushed his way through the tent flaps. "Sister! I need to speak with you!"

  All of us shifted to look at him in surprise. It was unusual for him to barge into a meeting like this. He would usually knock and wait until we were finished.

  "Callisto, what's wrong?" Celeste asked worriedly.

  He held up an unfurled letter with a broken seal. "I just—" He turned to look at the rest of us standing there as if he noticed us for the first time. "Ah, perhaps this is something I shouldn't say in front of people you don't trust..."

  Celeste flicked her wrist dismissively. "It's fine. I trust them. What's wrong, brother?"

  "I received a coded letter from one of Saiph's people. It suggests he's in extreme danger in Ironcastle," he spoke quickly, the urgency bleeding through his words.

  She leaned forward on her desk. "In Ironcastle? Who would threaten him in the city? I don't understand."

  Callisto shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure..." He squinted at the paper. "The details in the letter were scarce and not directly stated through the coded message. All I could glean was that he's somehow in extreme danger and he needs assistance as soon as possible. Something must be happening there."

  "Did the rider who brought the message say anything?" Celeste asked.

  "No," he replied. "Once I finished decoding the message, I asked the rider everything I could think of. As you know, immediately after Father's death, they already went through with Ganymede's coronation. Saiph was dissatisfied that the rushed nature of the ceremony didn't allow for either of us to attend, but if you remember, his prior letter said there hadn't been any other issues. I have no idea what this could be about. Ganymede has only been the Dragon Queen for less than a week by the time this letter must have been sent."

  Celeste cocked her head. "How long did this take to get here?"

  Callisto shrugged. "The rider said he pushed his kleth hard to get it here in nearly a full day and night. So we can assume it was written sometime in the evening yesterday. If we left right now, we could get there by midday tomorrow at the earliest. It will take longer if we bring more than the two of us, but I think we should." He looked over at our team. "Perhaps it would be wise to bring along your powerful delving team. We don't know what we'll be walking into."

  Running her fingers through her hair, Celeste leaned back. "Do you think this could be some kind of trap? Should we be wary of this kind of message from Saiph? I don't fully trust him, but you know him better than I do after these last few years."

  "I do not think so, Sister. I know that you do not get along with him well, but he has always been fair with me. If this had something to do with succession, he would have tried to do it before Ganymede was placed on the throne. He gets along with her worse than he gets along with you. I truly think he is in some kind of danger, and he thinks that the two of us are the only ones that can help him," Callisto replied.

  Celeste's brow furrowed. "He is in danger and thinks that only we can help? Do you think he somehow became estranged from Ganymede?"

  "I wish I knew. The letter was hastily written. It was kept short so it would not take long to encode," he said with a frown.

  Celeste's eyes flicked back and forth rapidly as she was thinking. The pause drew on longer than Callisto found comfortable, given the way he was fidgeting.

  "Please, sister... Will you return to Ironcastle so we can find out what kind of danger Saiph is in?" Callisto pleaded.

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  She pinched her nose and her fox ears went back. After a long sigh, she looked Callisto in the eyes. "Quickly, go to my stablemaster and ask for seven of our fastest kleths. We won't be able to get there as quickly as the rider did, but we can get there in maybe a day and a half if we rush. We're bringing Emi and my delver team. I'm sure each of them could fight multiple knights alone if it came down to some kind of confrontation. Tell him 'the lady wishes to see a play' and he will know what to do. Follow his instructions without complaint."

  Callisto didn't wait any longer once she finished, and immediately rushed out of the tent. Celeste turned and pulled open a drawer before scribbling out a note as she spoke. "Helena, go to the crafters and dump all of that glass you found there, then go to the requisition tent and get two of the mid-sized tents, any supplies your team needs, and retrieve your bed and anything your group left behind. Take Luna, Piper, and Aria with you and return here once you're finished. Maxwell, I want you to write that report on the second floor boss while it's still fresh in your mind. Wait here with Iris until the others get back." She signed the paper she had been writing out before handing it to me. It was a requisition form.

  Celeste stood up and snapped her fingers. Emi stood to attention with her arms behind her back in response. "Emi, gather the essentials and assume we won't return here right away. I'm not sure what we're walking into, so we need to take everything important. Be ready to leave by the time I return."

  "Yes, your highness," Emi replied with more formality than usual.

  "I need to go speak with the Knight Commander and some of the other soldiers. I will return as soon as I can. Go." Celeste turned around and walked out of the tent without waiting for a reply. Emi turned around and dashed into the back of the tent, where she began to gather things.

  Following their lead, Luna, Piper, Aria, and I quickly left after them and headed for the crafter's tent.

  ("What do you think's happening?") I asked Luna.

  ("I have no idea. I've never seen my mother look so serious. Not since we first met her, at least,") Luna replied.

  I turned to Piper. "She didn't really ask, but we're agreeing to do this, right?"

  Piper nodded. "It's not often a dragon princess asks you to do something and you refuse to do it. Besides, we have a vested interest in whatever this task is," she said, gesturing to Luna.

  "Could be dangerous," I added.

  "I'm sure it will be dangerous, are you dumb?" Aria asked in exasperation.

  We pushed our way into the special project crafter's tent and headed over to Aven'ket. It was lucky she was a workaholic, because she was still there fiddling with stuff after most of the people in the tent already left. She looked up at us with a big smile, but that quickly faded once she saw the grim expression on our faces.

  "What's wrong?" she asked.

  Piper shook her head. "Something is happening and we might need to be gone for a while. Nothing in the dungeon though, don't worry. We came to drop off something unique we found in the second floor boss arena before we leave. We'll need a couple large crates."

  "Sure, there are a few empty crates over here. Can you bring them over to my desk?" While I moved the crates for her, Piper was explaining the few discoveries we found with the strange glass shards. By the end of her explanation, Aven'ket's eyes were sparkling, and she was rubbing her hands together like a kid in a candy store. "I am so glad my sister talked me into this job."

  I opened one of the large crates and began to empty the glass shards into it. The first crate quickly filled up, and I nearly filled a second one too before I finally ran out.

  "Wait! Before all of you leave, can I get samples of all your mana in these? Oh darn, I wish Iris was here too, ah well, too bad."

  Thinking it wasn't worth arguing, Piper and Luna began to fill up crystals, and out of curiosity, I decided to see if I even could fill one up. I picked one of them at random and tried to push some of my nebulous mana into it. It wasn't something I was used to doing, but the feeling felt somewhat natural after all of the training I had done with Celeste. The crystal I was holding filled with swirling dark and purple magic that looked rather ominous in my hands. I wasn't really aware of what different magic affinities felt like, so I just pushed my magic into it haphazardly, and this was the result. No one else seemed to notice, so with a shrug, I set the slightly creepy crystal down next to the others.

  "Sorry, but this crossbow got totally demolished," Aria said sheepishly as she set it down on her desk. "I don't think a crossbow is really my style, truthfully, so it's probably not worth replacing anyway. I'll need something else to improve my abilities. The glass bolts seemed pretty good, though. Maybe some kind of arrow alternative would be better."

  The two began quickly running through her observations about the crossbow while we waited for them to finish. Like Maxwell, it was best to get these thoughts out fresh, since we didn't know how long it would take before we came back. Piper also relayed some of Maxwell's observations about his forearm cuffs, but a longer conversation about that would have to wait until he could tell her himself. Aven'ket still seemed satisfied with the feedback she did get though, so it didn't seem like it would be much of a problem. Luckily, we didn't have to spend too long before finishing up.

  "I'll look into this interesting material you found me and keep working on the projects for all of you while you're gone. I'm not sure what's up, but when a group of delvers say they are suddenly going to leave, it can't be anything good. Good luck, you guys."

  "Thanks, Aven'ket. I appreciate it," I said in return.

  The moment we turned away and started leaving, the childlike smile returned to Aven'ket's face as she immediately began to examine the empty glass shards. Whatever her old project had been was quickly pushed to the side in favor of the new curiosity. It made me chuckle a bit before I moved back through the tent flaps and headed for the requisitions tent.

  We quickly got everything we needed with the help of Aria and Piper before we went back to our own tents to gather everything we left behind. It wasn't like we had a lot of things between us that weren't related to our gear, but there were still a few things to grab before we left.

  When we walked past the common area, Alto managed to pick us out of the crowd and called out to us with a wave. Piper froze in indecision, unsure what to do.

  I patted her on the shoulder. "Go ahead and say goodbye to him, Piper. Luna and I will go get our things, and we'll meet you back at Celeste's tent."

  Piper smiled. "Thanks, guys. I'll be quick, promise."

  She spun on her heel and ran over to Alto and pulled him to a kiss that got several of the nearby soldiers and crafters whistling for the shy beastkin. I laughed and shook my head before continuing toward our tent. Those two were so cute sometimes. I hope that he's still here when we get back.

  Hello! These guys just can't catch a break, can they? They keep having to run from fire to fire. Something's happening in the castle, but is this a trap? Or a desperate cry for help? It looks like we'll have to wait to find out! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, thanks for reading!

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